Mayte is still not fond of purple, her ex Prince's favorite color, nearly 14 years after their marriage unraveled.

In a recent episode of VH1's "Hollywood Exes," the former wives of Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and Jose Canseco were shopping for bikinis.

Mayte's fellow exes selected a purple bikini for her, the look of which Nicole Murphy described as "hot." Mayte was apprised of the color of the bikini over the phone by Sheree Fletcher, Smith's ex.

"No purple! No purple!" decreed Prince's first ex-wife to her friends.

In a cheeky on-camera commentary/confessional, Nicole playfully remarked: "Girl, do not run from it. The more you fight it, the worse it gets. Embrace the 'Purple Rain' around you."

On a serious note, Mayte confirmed the occurrence of two especially painful chapters in her life.

The women -- who claim to be friends, although one fit of screaming certainly belied that assertion -- were talking about the inconsistent behavior of Jessica Canseco. Jessica's a vegan and the kind of a person who returns a cockroach to the out of doors rather than kill it when it turns up inside. But Jessica's also acknowledged having an abortion.

"This is bothering me, the whole abortion thing," Mayte said to Jessica. "You know, I lost two children."

Mayte and Prince lost a baby boy shortly after his birth in 1996, from complications due to Pfeiffer syndrome, Type 2, a deadly, rare skull deformity caused by a genetic mutation.

There is documentation of the 1996 death because it was reviewed by Hennepin County, for reasons which were never disclosed. My guess it that the death certificate caught the county's attention because it included false information. Mayte's name, as the mother, was incorrectly given as "Mia Gregory" on the death certificate, which omitted the name of the father. This was one of those cases of Prince's pathological need for privacy backfiring big time.

Returning to our reality show: During a debate about eating meat vs. lobsters and whether crustaceans feel pain when boiled, the conversation again turned heavy when Mayte averred: "I lost a baby due to a partial molar pregnancy. At the time it happened I was a vegan, and one of the reasons that happened was lack of animal products. So as much as I love animals, I know that's needed in our diet."

Mayte was referring to a second, less well-known conception.

A source inside the Prince camp tipped me off to that pregnancy, about which I wrote at that time. After no baby was born, I concluded that this pregnancy also sadly did not result in a good outcome.

Sparks is so young and gorgeous it's hard to believe she's already found a love that profound.

I ran into Sparks ahead of her performance at the Mall of America to promote "Sparkle," the movie that features Whitney Houston's last performance.

Look out for the Donald

Donald Trump, a man who probably seldom rides a bus, might have his people watching very closely for one in the Twin Cities.

"I'm about to make it cool to ride the bus," said Chris Birt, CEO of A/B Geist, with offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul, who's behind a campaign for SouthWest Transit. It features famous faces plastered on the backs of buses.

"One of our ads reads 'Bosses Ride and So Can You,' and there's a guy who actually is not Donald Trump but he looks like Donald Trump. He's better looking than Donald. The image is reportedly of Donald Tapley, the "world's most famous Donald impersonator, according to his website," Birt told me.

Birt said SWT does not want to get into a "scuffle with the orange-faced one himself. Or maybe with his ratings on the wane, he might welcome the attention. We wanted to use Donald Trump. We just want to make sure we don't get sued. The guy we have has reportedly been in hot water with Trump because he looks just like him."

SouthWest Transit CEO Len Simich said, "Bottom line, everybody rides -- not just one type of individual or a certain class. Everybody's riding these days. We want to inform people that your neighbors are riding, so why don't you try it as well."

Simich said he doesn't think the look-alike looks that much like Trump. As for whether the Donald would even care, Simich laughed: "I doubt it. I think he has other issues to worry about than if we have him on the backside of a bus."

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened.

C.J. is a columnist in the Star Tribune's Twin Cities section. Her column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
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